State Senator Jamie Eldridge wrote:
“Just leaving the State House, after a fairly long day. I joined Senator Mike Barrett, in his capacity as Chairman of the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight, in his oversight hearing today to look into the fees and fines imposed upon Mass residents convicted of crimes, both in the court process, and in prison. The hearing was nothing less than disturbing. Senior judicial branch leaders who did not have basic data about the kinds of fines and fees imposed on the accused (the vast majority of whom are poor), prisoners being charged for making phone calls, and then the DOC taking a commission from the calls, while also paying $170 for a small TV that would cost $40 at Best Buy. People who surrender themselves to court for an unpaid fine, being sent to jail for over a month because they could not pay the fine (often over $500) right then and there, without legal counsel. There are so many layers of criminal justice reform that must happen in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, it’s mind boggling. After I left the hearing, a member of EPOCA told me of how the DOC froze his personal prison bank account (from working in the prison) because he hadn’t yet paid for some drug testing, preventing him from sending money back to his family for MONTHS. I am beyond outraged, and eager to take up massive, bold legislation change to break through the destructive status quo that is the Massachusetts criminal justice system, that puts even greater obstacles on poor people, communities of color, and people suffering from mental illness. Thank you, Senator Barrett, for shining a light on these injustices.
Well, there’s more. Do not forget that the Courts had 20% of their funding slashed under Romney and Winslow, and were told to make it up by collecting fees. Thus turning judges into bill collectors and the court system into a debtor’s prison pipeline. I was appointed to represent a destitute mentally ill woman who was hit with two $150 counsel fees, one for herself and one for her two year old.[“Counsel fees” don’t go to the appointed attorney, they go to the State] I had to mark up motions and fight the fees to get them waived. All so that line item 0321-0330 [Non employee court funding] could recoup money and shift costs to line item 0321-1510 [which funds appointments to attorneys from representing the indigent – as happened when I had to draft, schedule and argue my motion to waive those fees then bill for my time to line item 0321-1510] while my client disregulated. It is more than disturbing – it is shameful and destructive. Nursing mothers are separated from their kids for unpaid fines, this way – or for OUIs and locked detox. Because there are no treatment beds they are put in Framingham Prison. The human suffering is huge, wrong, and intolerable.
….specifically via the 8th amendment.
is one place where we hide the lie that our state doesn’t need more revenue.
As Amber alludes to, in 2002, one of our worst recent recessionary years, Gov. Romney succeeded in making up some of the budgetary shortfall by raising fees, including by imposing a $60 per month fee on anyone on probation. Those who fail to pay that fee can be jailed. And we wonder why we have a recidivism problem?
To their credit, SJC nominee David Lowy criticized this policy during his confirmation hearing, and Senator William Brownsberger advocated for curtailing it during this year’s budget debate.
And he’ll have to pay his court appointed attorney too. He and my sister are o disability living on the edge of poverty. He is genetically disabled and has been unable to get access to job training or education services, any employment opportunities he has prior to his spell in jail are eliminated now thanks to CORI reports. Sen. Edridge was limited in how much he could help, and COFAR has been helpful and I’m glad I could reach out.
But we aren’t alone. I’m not excusing some personal irresponsibility on his part that got him stuck in his situation, but there has been a lifelong struggle to get him help from the state and he is one of the many people this state leaves behind. My adopted niece and nephew are thriving under my brother’s care, and I shudder to think at the hundreds of others like them waiting for new parents they will never find them. We could do so much better.
And can be waived by the judge; one has to file a motion to waive the so-called “counsel fee” though and mark it to be heard at the clerk’s office. So I know your nephew isn’t going to “…have to pay his court appointed attorney…” though he may have been hit with the statutory so-called counsel fee of $150.00, which the courts routinely assess unless an “Affidavit of Indigency [available online at http://www.mass.gov/courts/docs/forms/sjc/affidavitofindigency.pdf ] is filed. Note that anyone who receives or qualifies for masshealth, SSI, etc. is routinely and automatically considered eligible if this form is filed and DOES NOT then get assessed the counsel fee and can file it at any time and seek to have the counsel fee struck and waived.
I forwarded that information to my sister!
Civics has NOT been taught as a separate subject in Massachusetts for 25 years. No one taught you or your nephew how courts work or what their rights are. No one at the Court said what the fee is, who gets it, who is eligible to have it waived, and how to go about it. I am always willing to give a civics lesson on such things, but really, no one should graduate high school without taking a civics course, and even better, one a year, to know consumer rights, visit a court, do a “mock” or “moot” of a small claims case, etc. Laws are pretty useless if those they are written to protect do not know about them, and cannot access courts to enforce them.
Since I remember Gideon v Wainwright, but I would agree on all those fronts. Ignorance on both subjects is a boon to politicians and the credit card companies that buy them. I think both should be mandatory. I also think a civics course should end with taking the actual citizenship test, you can’t make voting or graduation conditional on passing it but it would hopefully raise empathy for how hard naturalization is for immigrants and how a right they flee, fight and cram for is something most of us take for granted and a slim majority of us don’t even bother to exercise.
Thank you Amber Paw for giving voice to the cries of the poor who fall victim to this system day after day. Someday you should write your book. I will.
It seems that every time I have the misfortune of being in a District Court, I sit and watch something that goes like this:
Court: So, you were on probation, and now you’re back, and you would like this fine reduced?
Answer: Yes.
Court: But, 18 months ago, we reduced a $250 fine to $50, and added 30 hours of community service. Have you done any of the community service?
Answer: No.
Court: Did you pay any of the $50 fine? It would be nice to see any effort whatsoever here. Did you pay anything at all, even $1 per week?
Answer: Nope.
It always seems to be someone with kids in for a not-first DUI.
If you don’t incarcerate for non-violent crimes, then what do you do? Its the criminal justice system; it has to have a stick. What’s the stick? Just throw everyone in jail?